I think I am going out to get some Dial today….(An advertisement with a clear message and funny execution)

Soapdog

r-u-smarter-than-a-5th-grader

http://13flo.com/
A very cool carousel rendition.  It swivels and does funky things:).  Ofcourse, this is just an entry to a competition so it does not have a finished look interms of copy etc, but the programming is pretty interesting.

http://ecodazoo.com/
Be educated through Ecodazoo on how to be environmentally friendly. The transitions in this site are extremely fluid and it loads relatively quickly.  The Eco friendly message is spot on.  Again, navigation is not very explicit, but once you get the hang of it you kind of figure out what you need to do.

http://www.wontbelieveyoureyes.com/
From the URL name, to the music, to the LOOONG pre-loader that builds a spooky anticipation, the message is clear.  You won’t believe your eyes.

http://www.getahappyface.com/
We love the user interface for this product.  The transitions are smooth.  The music, copy and pre-loader are in line with the product.  Its got a weather widget that will help you decide which St Ives product you should use for the day.  The drawback is the drop-downs in the form which could be smoother, and last but not least, it is hard to locate “Contact Us” which in our opinion should be apparent.

http://www.designspongeonline.com
This location is especially for someone who is refurbishing their house and wants to give the old an extreme makeover :)  Some great ideas can be found here.  Check out the sneak peek sectgion where they feature beautiful homes/offices etc of normal people. The before and after section is an absolute gem for people who hate to throw out old pieces and believe in recycling like we do.

http:http://automatedphonehell.com/
How many times have you called a help line and received an automated voice mail. I REALLY DESPISE THEM. I feel that in the hope of being more efficient customer service and customer interaction are really going out the window. The people at vCom seem to agree with me so check out their key proposition here. Sure hit home for me.

But it’s precisely because people don’t like to read that your copy has to be punchy and doubly hardworking. The usual rules apply: don’t write three sentences where one will do; don’t waste your reader’s time with reams of text that go nowhere. Beyond those, however, here are a few more tips for helping us to help you with your copy.

• Ideas need time to develop. Don’t rush things.
  We understand you may sometimes need to roll out a campaign on short notice. But for major campaigns that demand a creative angle, remember this - good copy, like good design, demands a long and involved process. For most people, ideas come after a good night’s sleep, not in the feverish, caffeinated haze of working overnight to deliver the job.

  We’d love to do good work for you, but faced with a six-hour timeline from brief to draft, you leave us with no recourse but to rehash old copy - not deliver the ‘fresh’ ideas you want.

• Give as much information as you possibly can in your initial brief.
  Beyond the usual mandatories such as focus, target audience, goals and objectives, tell us specifically what we can and cannot do. It might take you some time to gather all this information, but it’ll be worth it.

  You know your bosses. We don’t. We don’t know that your boss has an aversion to a particular phrase, expression, or colour. Bring this up early, so we don’t conceive an entire idea based around this offending word. It’ll save you some time, and save us some angst.

• We’re copywriters. Not magicians.
  We do not own a magic copywriting wand, nor do we have special access to a secret repository of magic words which say in one word what you want to say in 10 or 20. So don’t give us a 20-item bullet list or a 500-page white paper and ask us to summarise it (because you know web copy should be short), but still insist on keeping all the content.

  Yes, we can make your writing more concise - up to a point. Beyond that, however, the onus is on you to help us determine which points are the most essential. Your website should include only the most vital information on its front page - further details can be broken down into second and third-level pages.

• It’s harder to edit than to write from scratch.
  You’ve gotten a first draft of your copy. It “mostly looks good” except you’d like to add this bit here, tweak that bit there, and completely re-arrange this sentence here.

  Resist the urge to do it.

  Not only do you risk ending up with some schizophrenic copy with multiple tones and styles, it’s often much harder for us to decipher what you want to say, rewrite and edit it, and rework it in to the copy so that it flows. It’s more efficient to simply tell us what’s wrong or what needs to be added or removed. After all, you’re not paying us to do the work yourself, are you?

Put these tips to practice and see if your copy start to work better for you. We think they’ll really help.

How? The answer…Experiment.

Perform usability testing and monitor behaviour of your online users. We think Google Optimizer has actually made it quite easy for you to experiment with this technique before you pay thousands of dollars and bring in the big guns.

What are you testing?

There are 2 basic types of tests.

a) A/B Testing

Suppose you are selling T-shirts, and your designer would like to showcase a specific cool T-shirt. However, your boss decrees that the blue one has to get prime space.

You can run a test by creating 2 pages and then run the AB test using the tool provided to you by Google. You can then see which one created the biggest conversions. Of course to get an accurate result you would have to run the test for a few months to get a large enough sample size.

b) Multivariate Testing

This is when you actually change different key elements on a page at the same time and see what combination results in the most conversions. Quite useful if you consider you have to wait for a month or so to get any useful results. For example, we could change all of these elements on our site to see if the changes actually boost conversions.

There are obviously other companies, besides Google, that have tools to aid the optimisation of websites and they each have their own strengths.

• Omniture Test&Target (formerly known as Offermatica)
• Optimost
• Maxymiser
• Vertster
• Split Test Accelerator
• KaizenTrack
• SiteSpect
• Widemile
• Memetrics

In our view, the elements that really differentiate the above players from Google Optimizer are the following:

1) Their Multivariate Testing is more robust then Google’s.  Google Optimizer is more of an AB testing platform than a multivariate testing platform.

2) They come with professionals who have been in the analytics business for a long time and you can tap on their skill set and experience.

3) The platforms that they offer allow viewing, change and tagging more seamlessly.

However all this comes at a high price point.  So if you don’t have the budget, at least Google Optimizer will start you off on the right track.

Check them out.

Ok, all this analysis really turns us on - if you’d like to experiment along with us, give us a shout.

• We don’t really have a brief per se”. ["I am too lazy to think for myself"]

• “We don’t really have a budget, please propose”. ["We have a budget but we are afraid to tell you in case the actual costs are much lower and you swindle us of the whole sum"]

• “Can you make the bullet point square instead of round and the blue more blue and increase the woman’s smile by 56%?” ["I am trained and have worked as an Art Director all my life so I know better than your entire Design Team put together what looks good"]

• “It’s great but can you show us a few more alternatives?” ["We think this is the right way to go but have no ability to convince our Bosses"]

• “It’s not wow enough”. ["I can't get more subjective than this. I can't tell you what's wrong with it. And I am too lazy to search for references to show you what I consider "wow"]

• “Let me give you a heads up for a rushed job. I don’t have any of the materials yet – but here’s the heads up” [“I told you already ah...”]

• “The copy/creative/image/concept needs to work harder” - “work harder” is stated with pursing of lips and furrowed eyebrows. [See “It’s not wow enough”]

• “I want Web 2.0 feel but compliance says we have to vet posts” ["You are either open or you are not.  There is no in between.  People are not stupid."]

• “The copy is exactly the same as the 500 page document I sent you. Cut and paste” ["I did not have time to read 500 pages in college, and I am not about to start now. I am also guessing that your target market will not either."]

]]> http://www.8rewardsroad.com.sg/interact/?feed=rss2&p=34 http://www.8rewardsroad.com.sg/interact/?p=31 http://www.8rewardsroad.com.sg/interact/?p=31#comments Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:32:17 +0000 admin http://uat.8rewardsroad.com.sg/8rr/rockstars/interact/?p=31 Top 10 Things You Should Know About Us

No. 1 - We’re an agency run by aeronautical engineers…
To those of you who don’t know us, we’re an agency completely devoid of agency types. 2 of the 3 owners are aeronautical engineers.  Actually, Aerodynamics computational flight dynamics engineers to be specific.  The rest of the agency are all marketers, bankers, designers and programmers fresh from school mostly…so if you’re a client who loves dealing with traditional agencies, you’ll hate us.

No. 2 - If there’s no business case, we don’t do business.
We’ve been known to tell clients not to embark on building a certain portal, website or revamp especially when we do not believe there is a sustainable and profitable business case. We’re not here to make a quick buck, we do really need to believe in your business. That’s probably why we are so into doing work for banks, credit card issuers, insurance providers and cake shop owners.

No. 3 - Leave us to do what we know best
We have some of the best brains in the business as well as some of the most talented animators, designers and code-makers. We really do think hard about your brief and how to make things work. So please don’t tell us to make the animation more “wow” or the “blue more blue” because that makes us feel like crap.

No. 4 - We like to be praised
To have our egos stroked. To be told when we’ve done a good job. Or just a simple “thank you”. And we accept all food bribes.

No. 5 - Please do not ask us to take SEO or Analytics out of the cost estimate.
These are there because we believe they will help your business. If costs are a concern, tell us and we will recommend to you what else can be taken off.

No. 6 - We won’t bullshit you. So please don’t bullshit us.
We appreciate honest comments. If you like it, say you like it. If you don’t, tell us why it doesn’t work. Don’t make us guess or run around working on “alternatives” for “just in case” scenarios.

No. 7 - Respond to our emails after proposals have been submitted.
Even if the news is bad. We’re adults. We can take it. We might hate you for not giving us the work. But don’t just not respond.

No. 8 - Bargaining and haggling over every line item in the cost estimate is a waste of time. Give us your budgets upfront and we will try our best to work within the costs. We don’t get the “Oh, we don’t know how much we should pay for this, so please propose”.  Everyone has targets and budgets.  Unless you’re George W. Bush.

No.9 - Think about your briefs.
It’s really rubbish in, rubbish out.

No. 10 - Believe in the Internet and what it is capable of. Don’t drive whilst keeping your eyes fixated on the rearview mirror. You can’t really move forward that way.